Astra 2F: Central & East Europe Discussion

[Analoguesat]

Map now updated to here.

 

[Pesky Kids]

Right, on Saturday I decided to roll my sleves up, get on the roof and see what I could do about 2F. Until now I have had 0%/0% on all 2F TP's.

After a couple of hours of messing about with my Triax td110 (1.1m dish) with no success I decided to try an old (ancient) LH 1m dish (which is actually 93cm across), and within 5 minutes of fiddling...

BAM - Channel 5 and all the other 2F TP's.

Max SQ is a feeble 40% to 50% and I lose 2F around 6PM and it comes back around 5AM.

With a bigger dish it should be fine, but my Triax 1.1m is a total POS with less gain than a crappy 20 year old dish I had laying around. The azimuth adjustment is the worst I've ever come across. I did a quick search and see that there is a mod to the LNB arm to improve gain, but I think that would be pointless anyway because the azimuth adjustment doesn't give the fine adjustment needed for 2F.

Moral, if you're on the fringe you need a good quality antenna (obvious, I know).

One last interesting discovery is that the Foxsat HD box has a decent tuner. It's the last box to drop the picture out of the 3 I have connected at my house.

Sorry for long and slightly OT post.

Summary:
Maranello, N. Italy.
1m LH dish, black ultra Quad
50% SQ, watchable with no drop outs 5AM to 6PM
Shoud be 24h coverage with a larger dish, probably >1.2m

 

[Lazarus]

No, all good info- though as regards the TD110, I suspect you mean the Elevation slider is cr*p, not Az.(It's notorious for that).

As for fine tuning Elevation, you can just shove a matchstick under the fulcrum for the LNB arm - it's that simple!

 

[timo_w2s]

Yes, fine tuning elevation on those Triax TD dishes is a real pain, but I have managed it with a lot of patience. They are not bad dishes once set up.

 

[Pesky Kids]

Thanks, yes I meant elevation.

I do still have doubts about the dish though. Any tips on how I can make sure the LNB is at the best focal point? The arm seems flimsy to me and I'm not convinced I'm getting the best gain out of the dish.

Any tips or tricks on LNB focal point?

I know this is slightly off topic, but if I can make the TD110 work I'll come back here and post the reception report off it.

Thanks, Bob.

 

[Lazarus]

Tips:

1. Fine adjust with matchstick under the bit where the arm enters the front of the dish.

2. Use an LNB with a long neck (eg Black Ultra) which means you have scope for moving it back and forth.


(Apologies to all for going Off Topic. Finished now.)

 

[ralphmagno]

Hello to all,
From what i heard most all channels have been switched over to the new 2f.
The only channel we have lost here is tv 5 group.So bbc and itv group should still be here in naples untill the next launch.
Being that there was a satellite lost by the proton launch the next proton may be delayed.
Unless they deside to launch from arian.Right now it is unknown.
That's all i have for now.
Ralph

 

[Lazarus]

No, Ralph, only a very few Channels have moved to 2F so far.

The next phase is imminent (but still won't include BBC etc) - Channels from 2B to 2F.

 

[ukt]

Spectrum on a Rover meter of 1N vs 2F with a 80cm Penta 80 Fracarro in Ceska Budejovice (courtesy of Saxon on parabola.cz)

Big difference!

 

[dvdfilm]

No, Ralph, only a very few Channels have moved to 2F so far.

The next phase is imminent (but still won't include BBC etc) - Channels from 2B to 2F.

when is the switchover from 2B to 2F expected?

 

[Lazarus]

when is the switchover from 2B to 2F expected?

Within the week, according to many.

Not much point asking SES as their PR is truly awful.

 

[dvdfilm]

Within the week, according to many.

Not much point asking SES as their PR is truly awful.

ok.interesting to see how the Paneuropean beam performs on the fringe,because the official footprint does not seem truly Paneuropean

 

[timo_w2s]

ok.interesting to see how the Paneuropean beam performs on the fringe,because the official footprint does not seem truly Paneuropean

It's a very weird beam, I've love to know the theory behind it. They go to the effort of putting a weak signal over the Canaries but miss a bit of southern Spain, and have most of Italy covered but levels drop off fast to the south, and what's with the hotspot over Poland? And there's a lot of pointless signal going off into the Atlantic and the Nordic region seems to have been avoided. Even if this satellite was to be used at some point for another position it seems to be very specifically designed so harder to use as a universal beam.

 

[bim]

Hi been registered on here for a while now but this is my first posting.
lat. 45.33
lon. 14.15
elev 780m
As most other people we have lost everything on the 4th. We have an 80cm dish crap lmb.
Be nice to know soon what we have to install to be able to receive it again.
Will be a quite christmas - must start practicing those xmas carols!!

 

[deepbluesky]

@bim:

LambdaKt from Kutina, 200km East of you gets them on a 2.40m Offset Prodelin.
You can read more here: _www.novisf.com/wbb/board2-digitalna-satelitska-televizija/board3-opÄenito-o-satelitskoj-tv/94624-lansirana-astra-2f/index11.html#post1140613

Take care: You are more West ok but that does not always mean that the same or even smaller diameter will get them.

Also there is a recent report from bbcfan in Graz at _www.dishworld.de/thread.php?postid=52890#post52890 who gets some on the very limit, some too weak on his 3m Irte.

And there is also another report from Verona where a 1.80m got all.

So which is the right dimension at your location ? Nobody knows unless the you try yourself or at least anybody else very close to you.

 

[Analoguesat]

2F map now updated with all the info to here.

 

[bim]

Thanks Deepbluesky, couldn't get back yesterday bad mobile signal due to weather. Had a look at your recommendations, some interesting stuff.
I don't really know what to do now - take a chance - or wait for more reports.
Can dish installers determine with there gismo's the strength of the signal? might be helpful.

 

[Analoguesat]

Can dish installers determine with there gismo's the strength of the signal? might be helpful.

Not really - the installers connect their meters to the lnb on a dish so you need the dish first. Unfortunately extreme fringe reception isnt an exact art - signal strengths can vary wildly over a few km so even if you succeed with a certain dish size theres no guarantee your friend 20 km away in the next town using exactly the same equipment will get the same results.

Looking at the 2F map ive created we know a 1.8m dish doesnt work just north of you near Bled in Slovenia, so you need to think about at least a 2.4m dish, and probably a 3m dish. These need to be good quality ones as well - not something made of the metallic equivalent of tissue paper that will distort every time the wind gets up.

You may well be looking at a 3m dish in Croatia

 

[Analoguesat]

Since the list denis1501 posted is regularly updated i would like to add the source link.
Here it is:

www.digital-forum.it/showthread.php?t=138621

Ive added a few more of the Italian reports from the latest update.

 

[bim]

Thanks Analoguesat
Will go on the help pages and start asking about quality and the best to purchase here if available.
Good point with the wind, at our altitude we do get some really good gusts.
Thanks again